Tag Archive for healing at Zeal For Truth

Tag Archive for 'healing'

Biblical Bodily Healing X: Some Final Thoughts

Published by Chris A April 17, 2008 in Religion. 14 Comments

It has been said that there are two sides to redemption – the legal side and the vital side. I believe that is true. On the one hand you have the word of God, his promises revealed to his people, and then you have the actual experiences of his people in relation to his promise. The latter does not prove the will of the Father; rather the former reveals his thoughts toward us. During this series I have done my best to explore the legal side to the best of my ability. Rather than summing up what I have already written, I would like to approach healing from the other, unexplored side.

Personal Experiences
True Christian faith is not based on experiences; it is based on the word of God. Therefore an experience is only relevant to the extent that it is agreement with God’s word. Even regarding experiences that are supernatural, the believer is cautioned not to believe every spirit, but to test the spirits to be sure they come from God (1 John 4:1).

However, having a record of all the experiences the early church had with the Holy Spirit, we too should expect that God might visit us in much the same way. As long as our experiences are biblical, we have every reason to conclude they are an expression of the same love and power that Jesus manifested. God does not change. When Jesus offered prayer for his disciples in John 17 before being crucified, he also extended that prayer to include those believers who would come after them.

As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world (John 17:18-24, NASB).

This prayer reveals that it was Jesus’ will that the same glory demonstrated in his ministry should belong to his church for all ages. There is no hint of generational bias. Although many have relegated the ministry of healing to the early apostles, Jesus said this sign would follow those who believed in his name (Mark 16:18).

My Own Healing
A few years ago I suffered with symptoms consistent with Crohn’s disease. (I cannot say it was definitely Crohn’s disease since I never went to a doctor.) These symptoms persisted for about a year. I had very frequent diarrhea and skin rashes that occurred during night sweats. Nearly every morning I woke up in a cold sweat that literally drenched my sheets and stained them.

I was convinced that I would be healed if I exercised faith, but I endured the discomfort for quite a while before ever approaching God for healing. One reason I did not seek healing was because I was using my illness as a crutch. Any time I did not want to go to work, it was easy to call in sick because I was basically always sick. I got into the destructive habit of feeling sorry for myself.

Although it seems logical that most people who are sick desire to be healed, the truth is that is not always the case. Do you remember that Jesus asked the man at the pool of Bethesda whether he wanted to be healed? Why would he ask such a question? Isn’t the answer obvious? Not exactly. Some people never got so much attention from others before they got sick, and they literally prefer to be sick and enjoy the attention. Despite the fact that they suffer, they enjoy a perverse power of victimhood – something they would have to give up if they got healed.

People like this get caught up in what I call “medical culture”. They constantly talk about their medications, their doctors, their surgeries, etc. It is impossible for people like this to be healed as long as they are consumed with being sick, especially if they get a sense of security from it. Such people prevent themselves from focusing on Jesus.

I was like that. Not to the extent that some people are, but the end result is the same. Eventually God got a hold of me. The Holy Spirit began to counsel me, and reveal to me areas that I needed to change. As crazy as this will sound to some, he showed me that I was heading toward an early grave before I reached my mid-fifties. That was a serious wake up call for me. I changed my direction, believed God for my healing, and was made completely well without the aid of medical science.
Continue reading ‘Biblical Bodily Healing X: Some Final Thoughts’

Bibilical Bodily Healing VII: Faith Defined

Published by Chris A March 20, 2008 in Religion. 9 Comments

Since Jesus made so much mention of faith with respect to healing, it is necessary that we gain an understanding about what faith is according to the scriptures. Faith is a firm belief or persuasion about God supported by words and/or deeds. Faith results from having obtained the knowledge of God. Absent knowledge, faith cannot be present. This is not knowledge in a purely academic sense, but is knowledge that comes from God via his word. Through God’s word his character and faithfulness is revealed, and thus his credibility is revealed; this is the basis of faith.

Faith is the counterpart of grace. In order for there to be faith, there must be grace. Access into the grace of God is granted by the exercise of faith, and grace is multiplied to us through the knowledge of God.

How Faith is Made Available
The tenth chapter of Romans gives us a picture of what some have termed “saving faith”. This faith is based on the knowledge of God’s will to make righteous all those who receive Christ by faith.

8But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; 9That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

In verse 8 Paul calls the Gospel the word of faith. Why? Because it is able to produce faith sufficient for righteousness. However, notice that for this faith to be effective there must be a corresponding confession of faith.

13For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 14How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

The answer to Paul’s rhetorical questions is: they cannot. It is impossible to call upon a Savior that you have not believed in, and it is impossible something you have not heard.

17So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

The Promises of God
Not only does “saving faith” come by hearing, but all faith comes by hearing. Such was the case with Abraham. He received a promise from God, and on the basis of that promise alone, he believed what seemed to be both impossible and ridiculous to most people. Imagine calling yourself Abraham, which means “father of many nations”, when you are an old man with an old wife who has never bore any children. In Abraham, so many of the qualities of true faith are revealed.

16Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, 17(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. 18Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. 19And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb: 20He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; 21And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform (Romans 4:16-21).

One of the most overlooked qualities of faith is found in verse 19. Notice that it says Abraham “considered not his own body…neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb.” True faith is willing to accept God’s word above all that is seen in the temporal realm. In the Christian sense, seeing is not believing.

For most Christians this is not the case. Adverse circumstances that contradict the promises of God are often touted as “reality”, and thus they stagger at the promise of God because of their failure to esteem God’s word above all else. If you are fully persuaded that God promised you something, nothing else should matter; it should be settled in your mind that he is faithful to keep his promise, and it has to come to pass – period.

Take a look at what Peter said concerning the promises of God in 2 Peter 1:3, 4.

3According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 4Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

Everything that pertains to life and godliness has been provided (past tense) to Christians through Christ, but in order to partake of that provision Christians must take an active stance towards acquiring what is promised by faith. There is indeed nothing passive about faith. Those who are in faith think, speak, and act in accordance to what is promised.

Many err in that they assume that whatever God promises automatically materializes. Nothing could be further from the truth. God promised Israel a land flowing with milk and honey, but did all of them enter into that land? No. Why? Because of unbelief (Hebrews 3:19). Therefore it requires faith to receive of what God has provided for his children.

Faith is Not Generic
As stated earlier, faith is based on knowledge from God. Naturally all faith is not the same just as all knowledge is not the same. A person can have strong faith in one area while having weak faith in another area, simply because they may lack knowledge in the area where faith is weak. The remedy for this problem is to acquire the knowledge that can produce the desired belief.

Another possibility is that by failing to give attention to all aspects of what is known, people become forgetful and get out of faith. They may acknowledge something to be true without displaying the corresponding actions that prove their faith is living.

Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip (Hebrews 2:1).

In cases where people have heard the word of God in a particular area, but have not maintained a vibrant faith in that area, the solution is to revisit the knowledge that produced the faith in the first place.

This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour (2 Peter 3:1, 2).

This is where consistent renewal of the mind comes into play. When knowledge is initially revealed, this is just the beginning of faith. In order for faith to persist it must be continually fed on the word of God. Unless beliefs are strengthened, they will naturally weaken.

The Anti-Faith
Faith has an imposter. In many respects it does a pretty good job of impersonating faith, but when it comes to producing actual results, it falls short. The enemy is simple mental agreement. How can one be differentiated from the other? It is simple: by the corresponding words and actions that are produced. Here is a great lesson on faith from James 2.

13For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment. 14What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? 15If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, 16And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? 17Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. 18Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. 19Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. 20But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

When it comes to faith, words are important. But mere words that fail to translate into any demonstrable action are an empty mockery of faith. To get a clearer picture of how actions follow real faith, the reader is urged to visit the eleventh chapter of Hebrews.

Bibilical Bodily Healing VI: Christ, the Anointed One

Published by Chris A March 11, 2008 in Religion. 1 Comment

The Anointing
Jesus Christ is uniquely totally God and totally man. He is not a mutant, but is the totality of divinity and humanity in one person. He demonstrated the love of God for humanity by reconciling man back to God. This reconciliation culminated with Christ redeeming mankind by offering his own body as a ransom.

However, prior to his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension - he manifested the Spirit of reconciliation by healing the sick and forgiving sin. It would behoove us to examine how Jesus was able to heal the sick. Many have assumed that Jesus was able to heal simply because he was the Son of God. However, the Bible does not support this position. In fact, Jesus made quite clear what enabled him to heal when he quoted Isaiah 61 in the fourth chapter of Luke.

14And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. 15And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all. 16And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. 17And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, 18The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 20And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. 22And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?

Jesus said he was able to heal the brokenhearted and open the eyes of the blind because he was anointed with the Spirit of God. Even the power of Jesus’ preaching should be attributed to the Holy Spirit. Up until this moment Jesus had been the Son of God. Yet he had not been anointed to work the works of God until after the Holy Spirit descended on him following his baptism by John. Peter also made clear the fact that Jesus healed by the power of the Spirit.

How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him (Acts 10:38).

Notice the emphasis on Jesus’ humanity in this verse. Peter referred to him as “Jesus of Nazareth”. If Jesus had been working miracles as God in the flesh, then he would not have needed to be anointed. Who would be qualified to anoint God?

Jesus himself even attributed his ability to cast out evil spirits by the Spirit of God.

But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. (Matthew 12:28)

The Anointing to Heal in Demonstration
There are various passages that we could look at that show Jesus’ ministry to the sick. Some of them are more specific in terms of revealing to us how Jesus healed with the aid of the Holy Spirit. One such passage is found in Luke 6. For clarity we will examine this passage from the New International Version.

17He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coast of Tyre and Sidon, 18who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by evilspirits were cured, 19and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.

Notice that verse 19 says that power was coming from him. What was that power? It was the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus was anointed with. When people touched Jesus that power was released and caused healing to take place in those that touched him.

The most overlooked part of what transpired here is found in verse 17. Why did people come to Jesus in the first place? They came first to hear him, and secondly to be healed. Faith comes by hearing, and that is directly linked to whether a person receives healing or not. Even though the Spirit of God was in manifestation, it took faith to receive as we see in Mark 5. Once again we will go to the New International Version.

The Woman with the Issue of Blood

25And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. 30At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” 31″You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ” 32But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

Again, pay special attention to verse 27 which says, “When she heard about Jesus…” This is where faith is initiated. When she touched Jesus, Jesus felt the power of the Spirit go out from him. So we know that the anointing of the Spirit played a major role in the healing of this woman, yet Jesus attributed this woman’s healing to her faith. It is faith that gives action to the power.

Biblical Bodily Healing Part III: Longevity, Not Immortality

Published by Chris A February 21, 2008 in Religion. 10 Comments

Man Was Never Immortal
When discussing what the Bible teaches about healing and health, the question of immortality invariably comes up. The logic being that if healing is really a provision of the redemptive work of Christ to be presently enjoyed, then that must mean that physical death is abolished. However, this logic is flawed in many respects. First of all, if we read the Genesis account we cannot determine that man was created mortal or immortal. This is difficult to understand because it seems logical that he had to have been one or the other. Nevertheless, this does not appear to be the case.

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die (Genesis 2:17).

This verse indicates that Adam and Eve were not mortal, because death resulted from eating the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken (Genesis 3:22, 23).

From this verse we see that eating from the Tree of Life would have resulted in immortality, and that God removed man from the garden to ensure that he did not become immortal.

Death Not Yet Abolished
As we discussed in Part II of this series, physical death has not yet been done away with. First Corinthians 15:26 identifies physical death as the “last enemy that shall be destroyed.” Since mankind was never immortal and physical death is not yet abolished, we will all inevitably die. However, this fact is not incompatible with what the Bible teaches about healing.

And ye shall serve the LORD your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee. There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfill (Exodus 23:25, 26).

Notice that this passage speaks of the promise to take away disease, but emphasizes long life. It is possible, therefore, to live a long life and die of natural causes without disease.

Defining Longevity
When we read Genesis, we see men living hundreds of years. We know that people do not live that long today. So how can we define longevity in modern terms? One clue is found in Genesis 6:3.

Then the LORD said, ‘My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years.’ (New International Version)

I believe this refers to the maximum number of years men can live on the earth under the present conditions. Today, it is unusual for people to live this long, but it is not completely unheard of. To be fair, there are some that believe that this verse refers to the number of years that would pass before God flooded the earth. I disagree, but there is not enough biblical evidence here for me to be dogmatic about my position. However, I would point out that the phrase, “his days will be a hundred and twenty years” is preceded by a comment on human mortality.
Continue reading ‘Biblical Bodily Healing Part III: Longevity, Not Immortality’

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